Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, the tree, the gifts, the carols, all of it.   But, to be honest, I sort of lost interest in Christmas for a couple of years immediately following my parents’ divorce, but then after having Liam and Luka, things really perked up again and the tree was put up with more gusto than before and Boney M was played loudly from the 1 st of November.     Last year was a very sad year as we planned our cross-continent move to Australia and everything was done for the last time, the last Christmas, the last New Year, the last supper, like a bunch of convicts being banned to, well Australia.   Well, that is how I perceived it in a bit of a self-induced haze. Immediately following Christmas, the tree was dismantled and handed over to my mother-in-law who still had the first ever Christmas tree erected in the manger still smelling a bit like frankincense and having been chewed on by the cows present at that momentous occasion.   So this year, de

So Movember is not even halfway through and I begged, intimidated and blackmailed Gerhard into shaving.   I am not used to having a husband with a moustache and it was an excruciating week.   So Movember no more.   Luka is such a girl.   I painted her toenails blue yesterday, pink was just way too girly and she loves it, she also developed a very contagious infectious giggle, and she strung together a first sentence, Liam is naughty.   Poor Liam, he really is anything but naughty. Liam is busy and very cute and making friends far and wide, when we get home in the evenings he heads straight across the road to play with his new bestie, Zac. I am feeling a tad blue and sorry for myself.   Gerhard has quite a few work commitments and I just spent a Sunday all by my lonesome self, and when you spend a morning grocery shopping with a one year old and a four year old…lets say it gets to you. Luka ate a banana and a slice of bread inside the trolley, Liam was armed with a bag

This is a general update on what we have been up to since April, has it really been that long?   How can I even call myself a blogger? Well, Luka is still Luka, a tad emotional, walks into school every morning like she owns the place, throw tantrums of extreme proportions, gets away with murder because she knows that she is cute, blond and blue eyed… Liam is a bit weird right now, if this is a four year old, heaven help us, I will not be able to cope with a fourteen year old…He is all attitude too, and things are either ‘awesome’ or they suck, really?   At four? Liam cannot wait to be five and he tells all and sundry that he is almost five.  A tad hasty, but hey, maybe he can start washing the dishes or making coffee at five, who knows.  I am a fan of child labour.  We also managed to find a house in the street with the most kids in all of Midlands, we need to start locking our doors soon, imagine my surprise when waking up from my traditional Sunday nap on the couch t

It feels like yesterday when I was pregnant and now Luka is one, we had a pink polkadot birthday party and she went to school yesterday, how on earth did that happen.  She is only one and so much happened in that year! We moved to Australia, sold all our worldly goods, we moved house, Luka started school, twice, I started a new job after being jobless for two months, the list goes on. Yes, Luka started school, best of all, she started sleeping through the night, we still feel like we cannot take her grocery shopping, yet we jumped on a plane with her, twice.  It is simply unbelievable. She is a very clever little girl and the teachers at her school use words like 'spirited' and 'strong willed' to describe her, where she gets that from I simply do not know... Liam and Gerhard are in the Kruger Park this week and the girls are left home alone.  I am exhausted as I spent the night tossing and turning sleeping in the middle of the bed, then on my side, Ge

Well, so much has happened in the last week, I am not entirely sure where to start.  The beginning is probably a great place.  We found a lovely house in Midlands and moved in as they finished building it.  We went shopping on grand scale and moved in one day one with brand new appliances, and beds, and basic crockery and cutlery, not much else.   We went shopping every single day thereafter and still the house remains empty.  Well, it started with a car...I finally managed to convince Gerhard that a mini is a very nice car, so nice in fact that he caved massively and ended up buying me a mini cabriolet.  A lovely car, unless it is the only car for a family of four, whilst your husband still looks for the bakkie of his dreams.  We literally peeled out of the car, us and a loaf of bread, because that is all we can fit in the boot of a mini.  Thank goodness the furniture stores deliver, because we would have still been sitting on our camping chairs.  So yes, the first four days in

In the last month in Sydney, I managed to learn a number of life lessons, some silly, some really valuable, I will try and share these with you today.  The more things change, the more things stays the same is very true and can be applied to almost any situation, so the traditional gender roles will apply regardless of the continent you find yourself on.  I will still be responsible for laundry, my husband with numerous degrees cannot operate a washing machine, tumble drier or iron.  We live with the creases and kids can wear a pair of pajamas at least three times before it needs a wash.   Anything that involves labour should be appreciated, you can buy a dress on sale in Australia for $5, and a cappuccino will set you back $4,50. Common sense tells you this is not possible, yet it is, you see the minute someone in Australia makes your cuppa, at a minimum wage of something totally ridiculous  like $40 000 per annum you pay, clothes are made in Chinese sweat shops, so its cheap. 

Liam went to yet another new school yesterday, and he adapted beautifully, he really is such an easy child.  When we first moved to Sydney he kept on asking us where all the Afrikaans people were, and he insisted on speaking Afrikaans only, because we are Afrikaans, so I was a bit terrified of taking Liam to the Gumnut Kindy yesterday.  Well, I was mistaken, he fit right in and was a tad disappointed when I picked him up at the end of the day.  The teacher told me that they sang some songs from the Wiggles, we obviously have no idea, and Liam then proceeded to teach them all songs about South Africa.  He really is such a lovely child, he makes friends easily and just takes life in his stride.  I am so proud of him.  He also sadly invited all twenty five kids in the class to his birthday party in June, so there goes the idea of something small and intimate.  Kid knows how to make friends.   Luka and I had an enjoyable morning too, with Liam occupied and Gerhard still sick in bed,

Another year has come and gone, it is my thirty fifth birthday today and I vividly recall my last birthday.  I was pregnant with Luka, heavily so, Gerhard and I went out to diner with my sister and her then fiancee.  I knew in my heart of hearts that it would be my last birthday in South Africa for a bit and somehow was sad already, if that even makes sense.  Today was a sad day, I missed friends, family and all, and then I remembered that this is not my first birthday spent away from home.  After matric I lived in Belgium for a year, that was a sad birthday, and remember, this was before the internet, skype, emails, bbm and texts, yes, I know I am giving my age away, but hey, that also proves that this birthday, even though spent in the outbackis not as bad as that... Move on a couple of years and we relocated to Middelburg, Mpumalanga, even more rural than Sydney, and once again, just me and Gerhard, and worst of all, I wanted a couch as a gift, but sadly, Middelburg did not live

I am feeling very sorry for myself today, melancholy is not quite the word I had in mind.  This is not a light blue, this is a blue that is almost black.  I am so homesick today that even a Nicholis Louw song will probably send me over the edge bags packed ready to go home.  Gerhard is sick, has been since Saturday, and today marks his third visit to healthcare providers of various shapes and sorts and seemingly only today someone bothered to listen, check him out and refer him to a specialist.  Goodness, yes SA has her problems, but at least we know how to be sick in South Africa.  Here we obviously have no clue.  I am just missing all things about home today, being sick at home is easy, you pop in at Intercare and have a chat to Gerhard, our friendly GP.  You leave with a script and in severe cases injection in bum.  You go to Clicks, you pick up the meds and Bob is your uncle.  Here, no clue.  We have no jobs, no permanent home, no microwave, no gym, one car, no school, no nan

A very long time ago, I said silly things like 'no daughter of mine will ever wear pink'. I saw other mommies smiling at me and thought that I will show them, well, we all know how that turned out for me.  Luka has only pink things, the only exceptions being purple and a pair of blue jeans... Next crazy statement, 'barbie is such a bad role-model for a girl, I would rather die than have my daughter play with one', Well guess what...Luka is ten months old and she got her first barbie look alike doll today at K-Mart.  She chose it herself and the two of them are inseparable.   How did this happen, how am I managing to raise such a typical girl?  She is supposed to be gender neutral and pro-choice and a hundred other things.  You see, I think despite Freud, Erika Jong and all the rest of it, women are genetically pre-disposed to love pretty things, and barbie and pink just are too pretty to resist.  Luka is a real girl, she loves playing with dolls and I love dressing

How to speak like an Australian  So I think I am getting the hang of Australian...it is actually so easy, just never say the R, ever, let me illustrate using some examples.   In South Africa, we have braais, in Australia they have barbies.  It is pronounced baaaaabie.  Never say the R remember.  Doctor, no, docta, almost Jamaican in its pronunciation.  Easy, no, not quite.  You see, there is also that lovely colour called maroon.  Sounds like 'moon', not here it's not, it is pronounced 'marone', as in sounds like 'capone', holy crap, imagine that.  I honestly think we will probably never quite get the accent over here and heaven help us, Liam and Luka will end up sounding like this.  In South Africa we have a special brand of English too, but hey, it still sounds like English and on the odd occasion that I went to the UK or met citizens of the UK in good old South Africa, I could actually understand them, and they me.  There are some gems too, a co

I have again been a bad blogger, and yes, I know I am a stay at home mommy, but somehow time just flies and before you know it, another week has come and gone. Today marks our two week anniversary in Sydney, two weeks, and I think we are getting better with this.  A brief overview of our week thus far, we both went to see personnel agents in the Sydney CBD.  Even more surprising, we used public transport to get there.  We were on time, it was no effort, we are getting used to it now.  We spent Sunday using public transport as well,  family discount applies on Sundays and you can use unlimited busses, ferries and trains for $2,50 a person. We went to the Opera House at Liam's request. We ate ice cream, we walked the streets of Sydney, we had a lovely family fun day.  Househunting has been a bit of a bore and property in Sydney seems overpriced to say the least.  So we decided to stay on a bit longer where we are now, not ideal as I am dying to get settled somewhere and to go sho

We have been rather busy the last couple of weeks, and yesterday was no exception. The afternoon ended with me actually taking a tumble down a flight of stairs (our current house has four levels), with Luka in my arms. In my desperate attempt to not fall on her, I actually hurt my neck, back and bum, so much so that I took some painkillers last night. This morning I woke up with an aching body and a fever.  I really have no idea what it up, I just feel terrible.  And Gerhard reckons I am a tad on the pale side.  I hope it passes soon and that it is not congo fever or arthritis or some other tropical disease. Add to that the fact that today of all days, Gerhard has an interview, we need to return our rental car and we have no car seats for the two smalls.  It was hectic, ironing shirts, pressing suits, printing resume's all whilst making sure the poor little family has lunch, Gerhard frantically installing car seats (I must point out that these cost roughly the same as the car

We have now been here almost a week and thank heavens the jetlag is subsiding.  Luka is sleeping the best in her entire 10 months on earth, Gerhard and I no longer want to kill each other, for a couple of weeks it was rather hectic and we all seem to be settling in nicely. We had an amazing weekend, we went to the beach and had loads of fun. It is bad for the diet though as these people make amazing battered calamari and chips... Liam thinks that living close to the beach is the best thing ever, he recons it is like a giant swimming pool. He also told me that we need to move our butts and buy those surfboards now.  The kid has no idea about priorities, getting a place to stay and a car is number one on the list this week. We are still amazed at how friendly and helpful everyone is around here. I opened a bank account yesterday and oh my.  I have never had such a good customer experience in my life. Private banking in SA can learn a thing or two here.   Today we are hopefully bu

Ok, so here is the thing, I can honestly say that we have never slept this bad or this little in our lives, including two pregnancies, two babies, one a colic baby. It started months ago, first you dread the actual telling people that you decided to leave South Africa and move to Sydney. Then you spend some sleepless nights thinking about resigning, telling the school, telling your kids. Next up, that wonderfull thinking about selling cars, cancelling cellphone contracts and the like, bank accounts, letting go of people in your employment, the domestic worker, the au pair. It really never stops, and it is a roller coaster from the minute you get on. You will then start thinking about friends, family, the fact that you have no home, no job, no car, no gym. This of course culminates in a twelve hour plane trip resulting in severe jet lag, this is where we are now, so I was up chatting to people in South Africa at 1 am this morning, and I can see that Gerhard has been pretty busy

We arrived in Sydney without too much drama, kids were generally good on the plane and we even managed to get some much needed sleep.  A twelve hour plane ride followed by a one hour shuttle to our lovely temporary home in Elanora Heights and an extended four hour wait for Gerhard followed, no phone this side as he had to take mine. That meant that I got rather frantic at one stage waiting for him. Safe to say that in typical paranoid Niki state, I actually marched the two kids off to the next door neighbor's house and borrowed a phone... The sun here sets after 8, so we went to Woolworths (where else) last night. Ate dinner at 10, all in bed at midnight. Liam, Luka and I slept like babies, by the grace of some paracetamol for the two smalls and a sleeping tablet for mommy...imagine my surprise when we woke after 8 this morning. So today the fun bit starts, big shopping! Gerhard needs a laptop and printer, we need cellphones, a car, a house, furniture, I was born for this. 

Goodness, time flies when you are having fun! As of last Tuesday, I am jobless, homeless, carless, nannyless, you name it and I probably no longer have it.  It has been quite hectic, and emotional. To say that I spend my days crying would be an understatement. My poor family. My poor husband. This is truly the hardest thing that we have ever done. I am an emotional wreck and we have not actually boarded the plane to Australia yet.  We packed up or sold all our worldly goods, we found another job for our beloved Sekai. We said goodbye to friends and colleagues. My. Team took me for lunch at the Sandeck in Sandton, we all took the Gautrain. It was divine. On my very last day at work, a small drinks party took place on the roof of the building, truly memorable. I will miss these people dearly.  After moving out of our house, we spent a last night with Rudi and Izel. Tammy and Nick joined us for supper. Amazing. Then we left Pretoria for a last week at Zebula. It has been magical a

So as you know, I am not a very emotional touchy feely sort of person, but today I must brag a bit about my husband. I need to put it into context first though. The average man hardly ever listens when his wife / girlfriend talks. I have on numerous occasions asked Gerhard to do something / buy something etc and then he tells me that he forgot. Or that he did not hear me... Gerhard and I live in the real world where we tell each other things like "Gerhard, I want 212 from Caroline Herrera for Christmas, it is perfume, get me the big bottle, you can buy it from Woolworths or Dischem". We always do a small surprise for the stocking though, so this year, my surprise was a spa voucher and a picture of a black dress. I was confused to say the least, but then Gerhard explained. I have been searching for a very simple dress with long sleeves, a mini for some time. I have been in all the stores; I have searched far and wide, and found nothing. I mentioned this to Gerh

Goodness, December just passed in a blur and now it is the 3rd of January 2012!  We had an amazing Christmas, we went to my dad and Brenda on the farm, Liam had a ball, the actual Santa Clause (an excellent bit of acting done by my brother Albert) came to deliver toys with a nice garbage bag and a pair of sunglasses.  I actually sat on Santa's lap, so did Gerhard, I have proof.  You cannot believe that Liam and Natan fell for this hook line and sinker.  Natan of course told Santa that Liam did not finish his food...Liam forgot all about the beer and biscuits laid out for Santa, offered him some chips and dip instead and also did some somersaults to impress Santa. It was good seeing my dad, Brenda, Natan, Tiaan, Albert & Sophia for Christmas, we laughed a lot, ate too much and chatted about some Christmases before. Christmas day was spent with Gerhard's folks and all my mother in law's sisters, their husbands and kids.  Liam and Luka again had a ball and were spoil